Aftermath
by JediScully
Summary: So many things have been torn asunder. The people of bon temps face the aftermath of a night that will change everything.- This is my version of season 5. Will contain lemons, spoilers for season 4 and possible gore. Bill/Sookie/Eric centered.


Bill looked over the remains of Nan Flanagan and grimaced, wondering if his carpet would permanently be stained with the former spokesperson for the AVL. He picked up his phone and dialed the head of his security and told him he needed a clean up crew sent to his Study. Producing a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped at his face and tried to remove the already decomposing blood. He turned to say something to Eric when he was almost physically knocked over by a wave of terror. His eyes darted to Eric who actually staggered slightly, and as the Viking looked at him he saw his expression cloud over with worry.

"Sookie." Bill muttered. His muscles tensed and he was frozen in a moment of indecision. Something was wrong, but she had just told both of them to leave her alone. The blood she had given him to heal thrummed in his veins, breathing new life into the bond he had not felt in over a year. Should he obey her wishes, or follow his instincts that were screaming at him to rush to her aid? The terror increased and her blood pounded inside of him violently, almost making him feel alive again. Words registered clearly in his mind and he was overwhelmed with a feeling of desperation. "Help us!" He felt Sookie yell in his mind.

Not even sparing a moment to look at his companion, he took off out of the house, all thoughts of her wishes going out the window. His vampire speed brought him to the house in only a moment, her blood like a beacon that drew him into the kitchen. He stopped shortly within the doorway of the backdoor and felt Eric arrive behind him. Even with all the death he had witnessed, the scene before him gave him a moment's pause.

The remains of a woman lay sprawled in front of the oven, a vivid red blossom painting the oven door contained what few fragments were left of her head. A shotgun lay discarded next to her body. Sookie sat a few feet away, Tara cradled in her arms with a crimson puddle spreading out beneath her.

She looked up at both vampires, her face covered in blood and tears. "Help," she pleaded in a croak. "You have to help her."

The men crouched down to evaluate. Eric placed two fingers against her neck. "Her pulse is barely there." The Viking took the woman from the terrified blonde and looked at his king. "I will try to heal her wound. She will need blood from you as well."

Bill nodded. It was unspoken but understood that the severity of her wound would require a large amount of blood to heal. Eric pulled up the sleeve of his jacket on his right arm and roughly bit into his wrist, causing a jagged wound that quickly flowed blood. He placed his wrist against the wound on Tara's head, providing direct contact. Bill bit into his own wrist and pulled deeply, drawing a large amount of blood into his mouth. He brought his mouth to Tara's and opened it, letting the blood trickle into her mouth as he massaged her throat.

Anxious minutes passed as they worked to save the girl, Sookie pacing nearby as she watched, looking to scared to even breathe. Finally Eric pulled back, looking paler than usual. "The wound is closed. The damage should be healing."

"Her pulse is getting stronger," Bill added as he allowed his wrist to close up.

"She's not waking up," Sookie murmured in concern.

"The wound was bad," Bill replied. He retrieved his phone and dialed a number. "Dr. Ludwig, I'm sorry to disturb you," He spoke into the phone as the recipient picked up on the other end. "This is Bill Compton. We have an emergency at Sookie Stackhouse's residence that requires your attention." He paused for a moment in his speaking, listening to the reply as his companions looked on. "Of course. May I send Mr. Northman to escort you?" Another moment passed as he listened to the reply. He bid the doctor goodbye and disconnected the call. He turned towards Eric. "She's at her office. Please inform her of the situation before you bring her."

Eric nodded to his king and then departed in a blur, taking off into the night.

He ordered Sookie to grab some sheets blankets and she scrambled out of the kitchen, looking eager to be out of the grizzly scene. Bill gathered the injured girl into his arms and carried her out into the living room. He instructed her to lay the sheets across the couch and to take a blanket and fold it thickly to serve as a pillow to absorb the blood. After she was done he laid Tara down and bundled her in a blanket to try and preserve her body heat.

A few short minutes stretched into a small eternity as they waited for Eric to return. Finally he arrived bearing the small woman and carrying a duffel bag of supplies on one shoulder. Dr. Ludwig made a sarcastic quip about Eric being the Viking Express and then made her way over to evaluate her patient.

She cleaned the blood from her hair and probed her skull carefully with her fingers. She nodded and hummed to herself as the trio watched, the examination taking all of five minutes. "The wound seems to be healing nicely," She announced as she finished. "However, it was quite bad. She seems to have previous emotional wounds that have not healed and her body is showing the strain of it. Her soul was bounced out when the injury occurred."

Sookie gasped. "What does that mean?" She asked in a fearful tone.

Dr. Ludwig sighed. "She's alive, but she is going to have to heal her emotional wounds before her soul can reenter her body. Essentially her body will be in a coma until she decides to leave limbo. If she wants to live, her soul will find a way to heal and she will wake up. If she can't fix the damage to her soul she will die. Either way, there is nothing more I can do besides set her up in a room and do an IV for her."

Sookie sagged and looked as if she may faint. Eric came to her aid and wrapped an arm protectively around her waist to hold her up.

Bill decided to take control of the situation again. "Thank you for all of your assistance Dr. Ludwig. I'm sure Sookie can show you what room we can make Tara comfortable in so you can see to her." At his words Sookie seemed to find some grasp of the situation again and nodded quickly, leading the doctor to a spare room upstairs. Once she had arranged it upstairs, Eric carried Tara to the bedroom.

He was standing in the kitchen contemplating the accident scene when Eric and Sookie joined him again. Bill caught Eric sniff the air and watched as the Viking's lip curled. "What happened?"

"I came home. I went through the back door and hollered at Tara to see if she was still awake." The blonde hugged herself. "Debbie Pelt came in behind me with the shotgun. She aimed to shoot me and Tara came out of nowhere and pushed me out of the way. I screamed and charged Debbie and wrestled her to the ground. I grabbed the gun and cocked it. She started trying to fight me, begging me not to shoot her. Then I just- I just…" She broke into hiccoughs and then a sob tore lose, her distress pulling at his heart.

Unable to resist the impulse, he walked over and wrapped his arms around her. She crumbled at the contact and buried her face in his shirt, her tears soaking the material. "Sookie, it's okay." He murmured comfortingly. "We will fix this." She looked up at him and he brushed some of her tears away and passed a hand soothingly through her hair. It was torture how easily he slipped back into the need to touch her, to comfort her. "Why don't you go get cleaned up and sit with Tara for a while and let Eric and I work?"

"Okay." She whispered. She seemed to linger in his touch for a moment longer than necessary and a part of his dead heart thrilled at the notion. She slipped from his arms and turned towards Eric who stood nearby.

The Viking looked down at her and as she passed him to exit the kitchen she reached out and trailed her fingers over his hand briefly. He turned to watch her go, looking as if he wanted to say something to stop her, but didn't. After she left the room, the blanket of her presence lifted some and the two vampires felt their heads clear a little.

"A werewolf." Eric muttered as soon as he was certain Sookie was out of earshot. "This is a fine fucking mess she has managed to get herself into."

"It does present… potential issues." Bill agreed as they stood looking at the bloody remains. "It might be a while before she is missed. I heard there is some turmoil going on in the Shreveport pack due to the pack master was killed."

"The one thing that might work in our favor for the evening," the blond snarked. "I will work on disposing of the body and cleaning up the mess. I'm assuming you need to check on the status of our other issue?"

"Correct." Bill glanced down at his watch. "Do you think an hour should be long enough? Meet back here at 4:30?"

"It will have to be."

Bill departed in a blur and met up with the head of his security team at his estate. He followed the man into his study and was pleased to see the progress being made. He had been gone barely an hour and yet the bodies had already been moved and a crew of five people were studiously working at removing blood from all of the surfaces. He listened as the man told him that the bodies were already in route to the local incinerator to be burned and was assured the office would be spotless by six. Satisfied, he left them to their work and made his way upstairs. He stripped and made his way to the bathroom and shower.

The heat of the water warmed his body and made Sookie's blood inside him sing again. The vampire leaned against a wall of the shower heavily and groaned as everything that happened over the evening hit him. She loved him. But she had also said she loved Eric. She had walked away from them both. Her blood swam through his veins, the bond between them stoked back to blazing clarity. His body ached with the intensity. It felt like he had got her back and lost her again a hundred times over the course of the evening. He loved her. He knew he shouldn't and he knew she didn't want him to, but her forgiveness had caused the feelings he had fought so hard to push down to resurface.

He finished showering, his thoughts still weighing heavily on his mind as he dressed in jeans and a gray tee. He produced a suitcase from the closet and packed some clothing along with his personal laptop that he kept on the desk in his bedroom. Bill withdrew a pair of latex gloves from a drawer on the desk and walked over to a safe he had installed shortly after becoming king. The safe was solid steel but he had coated with silver as an extra security measure. Once open, he withdrew an envelope that held extra cash for emergencies and a black thumbdrive that he stuck in his pocket. After the safe was secured he finished getting dressed and flipped open his cell phone to make a call.

"Hello?" A feminine voice answered on the other end.

"Jessica, something has come up and I have to leave for a while. I'm leaving the house in your care. If anyone asks, you have no idea where I am."

"Bill, what's going on?" His "child" asked, concern heavy in her tone.

"I can't tell you Jessica. It's better the less you know anyways. Also…" He paused for a moment. "Please watch out for Sookie."

"What the fuck, Bill?"

"I'm sorry Jessica." He disconnected the call without a farewell. Suitcase in hand, he used his vampire speed to make his way back to Sookie's house.

Eric sat on the front porch looking freshly showered and clothed in a black wife beater with black track pants. He was nursing a bottle of True Blood and seeing Bill arrive held out a second bottle for him.

The king of Louisiana made himself comfortable next to the Viking and opened the offered bottle. "The situation has been contained. How is everything here?"

"I cleaned up and disposed of the evidence. Sookie should be down in a few minutes. Dr. Ludwig has sent for one of her nurse aide's to come keep watch over Tara so Sookie can rest. They lapsed into silence for a few minutes, drinking the synthetic blood. "Do you think Sookie would ever want to be turned?" Eric asked the younger vampire.

Bill gave a sharp bark of laughter. "No. She's a child of the sun. She would wilt if she was condemned to only night."

"Does her mortality ever bother you?"

The humor that had so quickly appeared was stolen with the question. "Of course. Fae blood may make her live longer than the normal human, but eventually she will pass. And the longer I live, the more the time I spent with her will only seem like a handful of minutes."

Eric looked at him and Bill saw a look that bordered on desperation in his eyes. "She loves us both. We can't ask her to choose one of us."

"I know."

"Maybe we should ask her to choose both."

He looked at the Viking in disbelief. "What?"

"I care enough about her that I am willing to put aside my jealousy for her. As you said, she is only mortal and compared to our lifespans her time here will only be for a moment. I'm not ready to sacrifice the chance for her love. Are you?"

Once again Bill felt the presence of Sookie's blood flowing through his body. He remembered how hollow he had felt when he had been unable to feel her for that past year. Memories of holding her, tasting her, making love… the warmth that filled him when she touched him or smiled… "No. I'm not ready to give that up either."

They turned towards the front door as they both felt the woman in question approaching. She opened the door and revealed herself to be in a powder blue tank top with a small pair of matching pj boxers. Her hair was still slightly damp and Bill could smell her jasmine scented shampoo from where he sat on the steps. "It's almost dawn." She said to them.

"We will be staying today." Eric said. His tone made it clear it was not a question.

"Good. I don't want to be alone."

The vampires followed her into the house and Eric led the way to the hidey hole he had built when Sookie had gone missing. Bill decided to keep his mouth shut and simply followed the other two down the ladder. He paused before descending all the way to shut the doors behind them and once he had, climbed down into the small area. Square light fixtures built into the walls gave off a soft glow, illuminating the king size bed and a lone nighstand. A small dresser was pushed up against a far wall and Bill was certain it held Eric's clothing. He briefly wondered how often they had made love in this bed and he felt jealousy start to roll through his gut. He fought the feelings, remembering the conversation he had been having only moments earlier and tried to push the negativity from his mind.

He watched as Sookie pulled back the covers, laid down in the middle of the bed and looked at the both of them expectantly. No words were said as Bill and Eric both discarded their shoes and climbed into the bed, Eric on her right, him on her left. She rolled to face him and he watched and he watched as her blue eyes fluttered closed. One tear, two tears fell down her face. He started to try and say something to comfort her when the tears stopped. Her breathing evened out and he realized she had already slipped away into sleep. Feeling dawn pull on him, he scooted closer to her and placed a kiss on her forehead, resting a hand on her thigh. The last thing he remembered seeing before the sleep of death claimed him was Eric's hand curling around her hip.

Ending Author's note: Okay, well I hope everyone likes this. If anyone has constructive criticism, feel free to share, but know I am fragile. It has been so long since I have wrote and I am nervous about even posting this. Also, I would like to point out a continuity flaw I hope someone can help me with. At the end of the episode it seems as if Lafayette is in Sookie's house (her room to be exact). If this is the case, why is it that we don't see him tearing into the kitchen in the middle of the shooting? Or shortly thereafter as Sookie is screaming for help? Did he knock himself out with pills? Does the ancient Stackhouse family home have some kind of soundproofing I am unaware of? Any suggestions on how to handle this? Thanks for reading and look forward to your reviews!- JediScully


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